
*o 'o • * * A 



> V 






















* ,0 









s^ 



A ... 












^0 • J^s^p^T^ o V 



^0* 





> 





%,^^ ° A ' ^ 












4y ^ 



<T 








A 












,40, 





Initial Renaissance. 



-A- POEM: 



Written for the Occasion of the Celebration 



» 



fleer Helling 



j||pf®ii| M< 1Ba»ttnw & Marrof iQnmiit Xaseltitw, 



a. 







) 



At the Larches, Thornton, New Hampshire, July 25. 1878. 



33 



By A. Z. HUGGINS. 



ALSO 



A Tribute by Dav. J. Miller. 



SANTA FB, NEW MEXICO : 

^?Villiams & Shaw, Book and Job Printers. 

1878. 



$u$M fyflfSmmq. 



TIME. 

When silver-haired Time his office accepted, 
'Twas on the condition of limitless sway — 

That he should retain his dominion through ages. 
And spirit and flesh should his edicts obey. 

So, armed with his scythe, the weapon selected 
To enforce his decrees and establish his cause. 

He sent to all creatures a grand proclamation 
Announcing his power and defining his laws. 

Hearken, spirit ! hearken, man ! 

Hearken, Empire, nation, clan ! 
Hear the law no power created may repeal : 

Onward is my order, hence ; 

Progress, strength, your recompense, — 
All directed to your everlasting weal. 

Change shall follow change, and no 
Backward movement e'er shall flow 

To a deed once wrought, a date once past, once gone ; 
Hour shall follow hour, sun sun, 
Year year, until my work is done, 

'Till the last, the great omnific day shall dawn. 

Once by error led astray, 

Thorns shall bristle on your way, 
Tempests drive and darkness o'er your spirits loom ; 

Should you strive against my will, 

Terrors your career shall fill, 
And enduring sorrows be your hapless doom. 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



If you follow Virtue's lead, 

Sure success shall be your meed : 
As the past can ne'er in any wise return, 

Onward, upward be your course, 

On towards that primal source 
Where, on sacred altars, fires celestial burn. 

'Twas thus Father Time, as he entered his province, 
Sent forth his decrees in no dubious phrase ; 

And the heavens and earth acknowledge his mandates, 
And loyalty yield till the fullness of days. 

And hence we behold in steady progression, 
Days following days, years following years ; 

Old things dropping back into regions of darkness, 
And new things arriving 'mid gladness or tears. 

Again the sage monarch addresses his subjects. 

Unfolding the cause of his vigorous sway ; 
Our hopes to inspire, our hardships to lessen, 

As forward we tread on our devious way. 

Mortals, clad in earthly vesture ; 

Mortals, framed from earthly clay ; 
Trust in God's superior wisdom, 
Though your span seem but a day : 
His aim is far higher, far nobler His will, 
Than to merely give life, forge shackles and kill. 

Mortals, clad in earthly vesture ; 

Heed our promise as you roam ; 
Earth life is a mere probation, 

Earth naught but your childhood's home : 
When flesh shall have failed you your spirits shall rise, 
And clad in new vesture ascend to the skies. 

Mortals, clad in earthly vesture ; 
Earth is yours for noble ends ; 
Strive for knowledge, strive for honor, 
Use with thanks what Goodness lends ; 
Resisting all foes that before you collect, 
And rememb'rinK that each is his own architect. 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



Mortals, clad in earthly vesture ; 

When your struggling bodies die, 
'Tis not death, but only freedom, 
To secure a home on high. 
Seek wisdom in earth ; seek virtue and truth, 
And your mortal shall merge to perpetual youth. 

JOY, 

A change as by magic now swept the horizon ; 

The dark skies were illumed over midland and sea, 
And in raptures the wise of the millions assembled, 

And a song rang upward in grand jubilee : 

Glorious day, that lifts the earth-born 
From the shades of gloomy night ; 

Day that opens Heaven to us, 
In its pure, inspiring light. 

Glorious news, that wake our spirits 
From the simple thoughts of earth ; 

That direct our mortal vision 
To another, higher birth. 

Glorious words, that make submission 

To our earthly trials sweet ; 
Our journey through life's mazes lighten, 

And direct our wayward feet. 

Glorious light, that makes our labors 
Blessings as we hold our way ; 

Light that leads on to fruition 
Hopes of an eternal day. 

MORE LIGHT. 

A breeze now flowed gratefully over the concourse, 
And with it a voice of clarion power ; 

Yet gentle and kind as the throng it prevaded, 
And calmly discussed the great theme of the hour 

When Wisdom first designed our universe, 
His purpose was to every good disburse 
Among the creatures of his sovereign hand, 
In heavenly spheres, in every earthly land ; 
And what boon could the great I Am select, 
So potent as the gift of intellect ? 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



80 when He gave this precious gift to man. 

In wise pursuance of His gracious plan, 

He planted him in flesh in fertile soil, 

And charged him to construct himself by toil. 

No fitter means could even Wisdom see 

To give to man fixed personality. 

So when man springs from clay to conscious life, 

He finds himself arrayed for mortal strife — 

A wager which his very being thrills. 

In forced defence against impending ills : 

Dire thirst appears ; he must perforce devote 

An effort to relieve his parching throat : 

Appears keen hunger ; all his powers unite 

To find the means to quell his appetite : 

Sharp winter comes ; he must a garb procure, 

His comfort and protection to secure : 

Disease approaches ; he must have in store, 

Such antidotes as will to health restore : 

He has dependents, to his heart alied ; 

For these, in every want, he must provide ; 

And thus, as man contends, fresh cares are rife, 

And all his days arc days of vital strife : 

Yet from this grows the muscle, till at length, 

What was weak flesh has waxed to manly strength. 

But flesh, alone, does not to strength attain ; 
Else all were brutal force and gained in vain. 
The mind thrives also through the selfsame means, 
And all its power acquires through battle scenes : 
Food to the one is equal food to both, 
And growth to one is to the other growth. 
A boon gained easily is scarce a boon ; 
Its charm decreases like the waning moon ; 
A boon through perils sought and dangers won, 
Shines forth as brilliant as the mid-day sun: 
The one has little power to pleasure bring ; 
The other, prized, illumines everything. 
Of all the metals gold is most desired, 
Because 'tis but by patient toil acquired ; 
Iron is more useful, yet accounted base ; 
Its plenty making it but commonplace. 

Suppose another course had been pursued, 
And man without an effort of his own, 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



Had been with dazzling human gifts endued — 
He would have moved like an automaton : 

As moves a clock that tells the passing hour, 

Yet nothing knows of innate spirit power : 

He might have borne himself with lordly mien, 

Yet would have only been a mere machine : 

But, in his state, man feels himself self-made, 

And boldly takes his high appointed grade, 

Full conscious that his boon has been well earned, 

Through zeal that in his yearning soul had burned : 

And there, in honor of the Heavenly plan, 

He proudly stands, God's noblest work — a man ! 

But do you ask, Why is this structure wrought ? 
And does not Time the labor render naught ? 
Time renders nothing naught, nor aught destroys ; 

His office is to change, advance, to raise ; 
To feed your growing years through fears and joys, 

And school your feet to course in Virtue's ways : 

Nor brings he death to man. The mortal yields ; 

The soul, released, seeks more inviting fields. 

The spirit loses nothing of that power, 

Which grew by healthful strife from hour to hour ; 

But throws the flesh as a worn garment by, 

To find a more enduring garb on high. 

Who then in earth would always wish to stay, 
Imprisoned in a tenement of clay ? 
Who would be tied to earth forevermore, 
While he might on angelic pinions soar ? 
Flesh is inert ; eternal is the soul ; 
Earth is your cradle ; Heaven is your goal. 

Then the voice which had spoken to man these glad tidings, 
Died away on the air and was lost to the ear, 

And the auditors shouted with wild exultation, 

That all doubts were dispelled and redemption was near. 

EARTH PLEASURES. 

When the shouting had ceased, the tumult subsided, 
And silence prevailed through the listening throng, 

Came forward a pilgrim, gentle in bearing, 

In search of light hearts as he journeyed along. 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



We have been told, he said, of threat'ning coils, 
Of dangers, hardships, trials, strifes and toils ; 
That these would aid us in our onward course, 
By nursing strength and yielding manly force. 
We also have been told that virtuous strife 
Would bring us surely to a higher life ; 
That happiness may certainly be ours, 
When once exhausted are our mortal powers. 
The thoughts of such an end will gladness bring, 
And to the troubled soul be comforting ; 
But we hear nothing of reliefs in Earth, 
From trials that beset us from our birth. 
We are rejoiced to learn of pleasures given 
To earth-bred spirits when arrived in Heaven ; 
But is not Earth a pleasing land as well, 
And may not pleasures with its hardships dwell ? 

I know a villa 'mid New England's hills, 
Where dwells a household that my ideal fills ; 
A lightsome home of Earth ; a bright abode, 
That cheers the weary traveler on his road. 

Grand mountains near raise high their hoary heads, 
And proudly loom o'er humble river beds ; 
Broad fields in front in thrifty cereals glow, 
And close, Mad River's restless waters flow : 
Here forests deep the willing feet invite 
To rambles in their half-obstructed light, 
Or to pursue the timid, flying deer 
Through thoriry mazes, tangled, dark and drear : 
Here groves of oak and maple bid delay 
And rest to pilgrims on their tedious way ; 
And here the orchard with well-laden trees, 
Presents its fruits one's yearnings to appease. 

Around this villa graceful larches sweep, 
And o'er its inmates ceaseless vigils keep — 
Tall, queenly larches, decked with flowing sprays, 
And trilling on the breeze aeolean lays. 

In this retreat, all earthly, one will find 
Attendant pleasures suited to his mind : — 
And here rules Phauia, the mother, wife, 
A pattern true for dames in busy life. 
With head and hand she strives with mortal main 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



From morn to night and morn to night again : 

Like other dames she rears a youthful brood, 

And cheerily prepares their daily food ; 

But unlike many, 'mid her pressing cares, 

She courts the learned and in their labors shares ; 

And as her days glide cheerfully along, 

She glads the heart with poesy and song, 

Distilling gems of thought upon the air, 

And warming kindred hearts that linger there. 

Here also Miron rules — the father, kind, 
Yet firm, as he directs the youthful mind — 
The husband, full of love and tenderness. 
Which grow in fervor as his years progress — 
The working man, whom none e'er knew recoil 
Before impediments or shrink from toil — 
The student, probing deep life's mysteries, 
And garnering its varied histories — 
The man of Freedom's mould, who dares express 
An honest thought or glaring wrong redress — 
A man of fame in honorable sphere ; 
In letters known, in chess with scarce a "peer. 

Beneath this gladsome villa's humble dome, 
Long years has been these happy spirits' home, 
Nor has one heard a word unkind expressed, 
Or ever innocent pastime repressed. 
Their offspring as companions are received ; 
Are from all slavish drudgeries relieved ; 
Taught to esteem themselves as Heaven's heirs, 
And cheerful service lend in Earth's affairs. 

Just five and twenty years these souls have wrought ; 
Swift rolling years with varied fortune fraught ; 
But when sore trials came to hope depress, 
Came with them joys their daily life to bless ; 
Came resignation, quiet, gentle thought ; 

Came clinging confidence, the fond embrace ; 
Came new resolve with lively ardor wrought, 

The pangs of crushing sorrows to replace. 
And these all genial hearts are present now, 
And may the secret of their lives avow ; 
May teach the enquirer how to find success, 
And make our world a world of happiness. 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



Intent were all eyes of the waiting assemblage, 
As calmly advanced the twice-married pair, 

And in vesture becoming a wedding of silver, 
Consented, in brief, to their secret declare. 

MIRON. 

Although our final hopes may lie 

In joyful scenes beyond these lines ; 
Though we may long for bliss on high 
And bless relief from earth's confines. 
Yet, 'mid his toils, to striving man is given, 
In teeming pleasures, a foretaste of Heaven. 

Attendant on each earthly pain 

Is some sweet charm, some gleaming star, 
To reconcile to earth again, 

And on the heart leave but a scar. 
These pains in flesh are only holy leaven ; 
The gleaming star a pledge that Earth is Heaven. 

But pain conies not from toil and strife, 

From active work, from contest brave ; ' 
These yield to man but healthy life ; 
Who shirks them is a graceless slave : 
He only, who accepts what God has given, 
Is fitted for the joys of Earth or Heaven ! 

Who grumbles on his toilsome way 

And constant o'er his fortune grieves ; 
Who ceases not to groan and pray, 
And call our world a den of thieves, 
Is not in Earth a proper dweller, even ; 
Much less can be a welcome heir of Heaven. 

Our world is beauteous, pleasing, bright ; 

It is God's handiwork, His world ; 
By day are beaming suns, by night 
A starry banner is unfurled ; 
To virtuous souls Earth is no dismal road, 
But proves a wholesome, cheerful, glad abode. 

PHANIA. 

Earth provides a thousand blessings 

To the toiling, thirsting soul ; 
Blessings suited to its longings, 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 



As our years to ages roll : 

All inviting, 

All uniting, 
To effect a nappy whole. 

Beauty, of these countless blessings, 
Cheers the spirit, feeds the eye ; 
Beauty of the human features, 
Of the the silent, starry sky ; 
Beauties glowing, 
Ever flowing, 
That our hearts to Heaven ally : 

Beauty of the forest foliage, 

Of the verdure, spray and flower ; 
Of the landscape far receding, 

Of the vineyard, grove and bower ; 
Breathing pleasure, 
In full measure, 
During every fleeting hour. 

Wonders too are soul-inspiring, 

Mountains looming in the air ; 
Cataracts their volumes plunging 
To their seething, craggy lair : 
Waters roaring, 
Mountains soaring ; 
Wonders looming everywhere. 

Wonders of the burning deserts ; 

Wonders of the boundless plain ; 
Wonders of the driving tempests ; 
Wonders of the briny main ; 
Spreading, gleaming, 
Glowing, streaming, 
In one vast, one sweeping train. 

MIRON. 

Though beauties our surroundings fill, 

And scatter joys along our way ; 
Though wonders wild our spirits thrill, 
As circling man in grand array ; 
The gift most precious from the powers above, 
And most abiding is the gift of love : 



lO NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 

Affection for a kindred heart, 

Uniting spirits into one ; 
A beam beyond the ken of art, 
Imparted from a spirit sun : 
In love is life ; in love our skies are bright ; 
It cheers our pathway and makes darkness light. 

It probes the very soul of man ; 

Pervades each sinew of his frame ; 
His latent embers serves to fan 
Into a living, glowing flame : 
Each seeming evil it transforms to good, 
And binds us in a common brotherhood. 

It casts a halo 'round the mind ; 

It beams refulgent through the air ; 
It tempers every adverse wind, 
And softens every pressing care : 
This is the gift above all venial price. 
And makes a humble home a paradise. 

PHANIA. 

Music too, the soul entrances, 

Filling it with calm delight ; 
Drives away depressing fancies ; 

Puts all chilling thoughts to flight ; 
Music cheering. 
Friends endearing. 
In its sweet relistless might : 

Music to the spirit speaking ; 

Trilled en every flitting breeze ; 
In the sunshine ; in the tempest ; 
Through the swaying forest trees ; 
Soul entrancing, 
In its dancing, 
As it dances on the breeze. 

'Mid such cheering gifts surrounding; 

'Mid such joys along our way ; 
Dark indeed must be the spirit 
That would cloud so bright a day : 
Brooding, sighing, 
Light defying ; 
To all fancied ills a prey. 



NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 11 



Beauty, poetry and music, 

With love's golden circlet crowned, 
Make this life a cheery pastime ; 
Make our Earth enchanted ground : 
Pleasures dealing ; 
God revealing, 
Wheresoe'er true hearts abound. 



MIRON. 

Yet to our Earthly pleasures fill ; 
To peace insure with no alloy ; 
To every doubting impulse still, 
And add to life its crowning joy, 
The Graces must our constant mentors be — 
The beauteous three — Faith, Hope and Charity. 

PHANIA. 

Faith, the gentle loving spirit, 

Heaven-commissioned as our guide ; 
Sent to make our journey pleasant, 
Over ways unseen, untried : 
Friend untiring, 
Trust inspiring, 
As we move upon the tide. 

MIRON. 

Hope bears a beacon for our bark, 
As o'er life's troubled seas we stray ; 

Electrifies the vital spark, 

And safely lights us on our way : 
Without her smile men nothing realize ; 
With it they win full many a glowing prize. 

PHANIA. 

Charity, of all the Graces, 

Wakens most the heart of man, 

Breathing o'er him such a fragrance 

As no mortal can withstand : 

Life renewing ; 

Favors strewing, 



With a constant, open hand. 



12 NUPTIAL RENAISSANCE. 

CLAD HEARTS. 

A murmur of pleasure now ran through the concourse ; 

Then a shout from full hearts ringing joyful and long 
Then a hand-shaking followed with Miron and Phania ; 

Then a concert of voices in resonant song. 

Light is the heart over tidings so welcome ; 

Happy the soul that has learned how to live ; 
Joyous the spirit that finds in the present, 
The blessings which virtue and purity give : 
Earth is no longer a journey of sorrow ; 

Life is no longer a wearisome way ; 
Promise relieves from all dread of the morrow. 
And merges our night into luminous day. 

Sweet are the beauties that cluster around us ; 
- Rousing the wonders in grandeur displayed ; 
Glad the refulgence of love beaming o'er us, 
And thrilling the raptures by music conveyed : 
Now and henceforth shall peace and affection 
Lighten our labors and brighten our way ; 
Faith shall sustain us, Hope be our protection, 
And Charity every disquiet allay. 

Santa Fe, New Mexico 
July, 1878. 



i 




NUPTIAL REUNION. 13 

TRIBUTE 

TO 

tpon and ^hamu^ 

ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR 

SILVER WEDDING, JULY 25, 1878. 

By DAV. J. MILLER. 



Though Miron and Phania, at their Wedding of Silver, 

Be rich in possession of silver in coin, 
Far richer are they in the love, freely rendered, 
Of friends who their hearty good wishes have tendered, 

And, in spirit or form, their festivities join. 

Though Miron and Phania, at their Wedding of Gold, 

Count thousands on thousands of eagles their own, 
The love of their friends will outweigh the rich treasure, 
Will yield them more solid, more genuine pleasure ; 
For this will remain e'en though riches have flown. 

Though Miron and Phania, at their Wedding of Diamonds, 

Have wealth by the million in metal and gem, 
Yet the love of their friends, by long years now well tested, 
Which has strengthened until with rare beauty invested, 
Is the jewel of jewels in their life's diadem. 

Thus the nuptial reunions, in periods recurring, 

Of Miron and Phania — now at last waxen old ! — 
Have show'd friends who admire and honor them ever, 
Have cemented a love which naught can dissever, 
More precious than silver, than diamond, than gold. 



Santa Fe, New Mexico, July, 1878. 



3477- «83 
Lot 74 







%£> a v * fr^Ml)^^ ^V> Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 

Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
£> o^ V*^ Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

«? ^ H/J^ * a v «$• • 




i- *^ *£mz^\ *^<± 



1 



PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 















1 













•^ A 

*+<£> 










: W*i 



& * 








^o« 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



015 762 297 



